Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike
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The Conservative party conference may be in full swing in Manchester but Reform UK’s politicians are still creating headlines. Deputy leader Richard Tice has given a rather punchy interview to Arabian Business during a trip to Dubai – in which he slated Britain’s immigration ‘disaster’, insisted a decline in the British work ethic was because
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The Conservative party conference may be drawing to a close, but the fighting spirit of the Tories isn’t going anywhere. At the Spectator’s well-attended Scotland event this afternoon – ‘Can the Tories turn back the teal tide?’ – MPs Andrew Bowie and Harriet Cross were packing the punches. The story of the Scottish Tories isn’t
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The Conservative party conference is in full swing in Manchester with plenty more speeches and fringe events to go. Despite being rather poorly attended this year, the atmosphere among members is not downbeat – although already Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has had to defend herself again some rather unfortunate poll results. A YouGov poll has
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It’s not just Conservative politicians popping up at the Tory party conference this year: Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has appeared at some fringe events to wax lyrical about the successes of devolution, his hopes for a Manchester tourist tax and reform of council tax. But just a week after the Labour Party conference,
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The former prime minister may not be at Conservative party conference, but he’s still managing to create headlines. Boris Johnson has admitted he went ‘far too fast’ on net zero when he was PM, conceding he got ‘carried away’ about the idea that renewables could replace fossil fuels – in his most outspoken remarks on
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To the Scottish Tory reception at Conservative Party conference, where leader Kemi Badenoch gave a rather punchy address before popping over to the Welsh Conservative event – her ‘second favourite devolved nation’, quipped Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay. Lauding Findlay, Badenoch expressed her admiration for how he has coped with the journalist crowd north of
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The Tory conference parties are in full flow and the political speeches are underway. At the TaxPayers’ Alliance reception, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick was the speaker of choice – and he didn’t disappoint. Crowning himself the ‘drug mule’ of the party, Jenrick laughed about the Ozempic trend that has taken over London: I’ve managed
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To Manchester, where politicians, members and delegates are gathering for the Conservative’s annual party conference. A number of speeches have taken place on the main stage today, including that of shadow home secretary Chris Philp. The Tory MP focused on his party’s migration policy this afternoon – and surprised delegates with his announcement that, if
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In Manchester, a vigil is taking place after Thursday’s horrific terror attack left two people killed and three seriously injured in hospital. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to do ‘everything’ in his power to protect Jewish people in Britain, condemning the ‘horrific’ terror attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
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What was your reaction to the attack on a synagogue in Manchester yesterday? Most right thinking people, you’d hope, simply recoiled in horror and dread on hearing the news that two Jews had been killed and three seriously injured in a terrorist attack on British soil. For the ‘The Centre for Media Monitoring’ (CfMM), an
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The country is still reeling from the horrific attack that took place at a Manchester synagogue on Thursday morning. The car and knife attack left two victims dead and three seriously injured in hospital, while the suspect was shot and killed by police. More details have come to light since then: police have said they
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Out with old and in with the new. MI6 boss Sir Richard Moore is packing in the clandestine activities for a less secret but perhaps more diplomatic life – hopefully not following too closely in Lord Scandelson’s footsteps. After five years in the role, Moore is stepping aside for Blaise Metreweli – or ‘C’, as
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Well, well, well. It transpires that NHS Fife – the health board caught up in the Sandie Peggie trans tribunal case – has now U-turned on its toilet policy. After the nurse took NHS Fife to a tribunal over her suspension for complaining about having to share a changing room with a transwoman, it turns
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Whisper it, but there’s a name on everyone’s lips at Labour conference. A man who clearly seems to be going places – if we look at the sheer number of times he’s been cited in Liverpool. Who is this whippersnapper? A young socialist exciting the grassroots? A rising cabinet star? Errr, not exactly: it’s Nigel Farage,
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All is not well in Reform HQ. On Tuesday, Nigel Farage broadcast a statement where he claimed that Sir Keir Starmer’s rhetoric – dubbing Reform’s plans to scrap indefinite leave to remain ‘racist’ – risked inciting violence against his party’s activists and candidates. This morning, the party’s head of policy Zia Yusuf took to the
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Much of Labour conference has seen MPs taking aim at Nigel Farage and his Reform party, but it would appear some left-wingers have ended up in the firing line too. Onetime Labour member and all-time general annoyance Owen Jones had been running around Liverpool vox-popping politicians and delegates with his cameraman – but he managed
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Well, well, well. Angela Rayner may have left the government some weeks ago but the mark she made in one of the highest offices in the country has not been forgotten. A deputy leadership race is rumbling on in the background with both Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell trying to figure out how they can
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The Labour party conference has entered one of its final days and as the time ticks on, politicians are finding it a little harder to keep their frustrations to themselves. The mood in Liverpool has felt rather glum as poll after poll suggests that the party of government is becoming even more unpopular despite winning
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To Labour conference, where a number of conversations are being dominated by another political party: Reform UK. New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has had her first few weeks in the job dominated by the small boats crisis and concerns about immigration – announcing yesterday that she will toughen up Labour’s migration policy. But that wasn’t
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At the last Labour conference before the 2026 Holyrood election, Scottish Labour is enjoying the limelight. With less than eight months to go until the Scottish parliament election, the party is trying to prove that – despite its rather dire polling – it can win. But in an increasingly fractured political world, Labour may have
